Calumbishop ..VG observation.

Before that, he voted against the triggering of Article 50. It is such an utter shame that a Tory MP of the stature and gravitas of Ken Clarke would see his illustrious parliamentary career come to such an undignified end. He served in the highest levels of government, was a minister for the entirety of the Thatcher-Major years and was still a leading figure in government under David Cameron. I'm sure he wasn't everyone's cup of tea, but I think it would be safe to say that had he, somehow, become Tory leader and/or prime minister, the party would be in a much better place than it is now. I know a lot of the current Tory leadership don't like him and he is seen, rather derisively, as a bleeding-heart liberal Europhile (along with the likes of Michael Heseltine and John Major).

Another MP Boris kicked out was Winston Churchills grandson, despite claiming to worship the ground Churchill walked on. Isn't it funny how the current breed of Conservatives claim so much reverence and kinship with people like Churchill and Thatcher yet work tirelessly to scrap so many of the things they helped build.

Cause he is one of the Conservative u can't bamboozle

There are more ethnic minorities in the cabinet than in the Labour party; the P.M. is Indian; they blather on endlessly about how essential immigration is to our economy; ! million visas issued last year; they minted a coin proclaiming "Diversity Built Britain, and minted another showing Britania as an African woman. In what universe does this qualify as "hard/far right"? You're living in a Left-wing fever dream.

BANG ON

We accept asylum seekers from safe countries

Prove it !

@@vvwalker7261 name them troll

​@vvwalker7261 that's a blatant lie.

Joe Biden is 81 years old, just thought I would add that

I agree, but unfortunately he’s not a Tory, having been booted out because he voted with his conscience instead of following party dogma when he knew it would damage the country. It’s a crying shame, but thankfully he still has a voice.

@@Poshfrocknfluffyslip He lost the party whip in the Commons in 2019 but is still a Conservative and sits as a Conservative peer in the House of Lords. I wish there was politicians of his calibre in the House of Commons these days.

Well said!

sadly the current government are a bunch of right wing nut jobs now. I think centre right Conservatism has been replaced with the worst parts of UKIP and all the stupid that comes with it.

I could wish he were the tory consience. Sadly he is a mere echo of times past. If he were Jimminy Cricket then the torys are constantly having to remove 2ft a week of excess nasal growth, despite the enduring wish to become a real party

Make no mistake: the end goal is an unelected dictatorship.

Already in one, lackys of the states

Already in one, lackys of the states

hes literally the minster for being drunk on sly news

Already in one, with 54,7 percent of the UK legislature being Unelected, 783 member Unelected medieval house of lords. 650 member Elected house of commons.

You're just as out of touch as he is. Glad you're happy with immigrant alkali attacks though; you're just the sort of idiots these people rely on to stay here

He has the wisdom of knowledge and experience. And is old enough not to care who he offends with what he says. Good for him.

Very impressive man.

I agree, He’s never been one to blindly toe the party line, I also always liked that he came from his constituency, it wasn’t unusual at all to see him out doing his shopping in ASDA… the current incumbent was parachuted in from Wales I believe, not much in the way of local representation…

I'm not a Tory supporters either bit have respect for him.A decent politician.

The far right always try and invoke a silent majority. They count on apathy (and where possible, the threats of violence) to make sure nobody counters their claims.

Also the lords purpose is basically spellchecking the commons, these debates sometimes make the rounds on KZfaq but the commons can force through what they like in the end so to argue that it is in some way undemocratic is silly really.

The Tories are definitely not the same calibre of the past, time will tell for the rest of them, I wouldn’t be surprised to find the next lot are as bad I’m afraid, there’s a lot of hard left Corbynites waiting in the wings to cripple a potential Labour government…

Yeah have you seen the Labour conference? The screeching was blinding!

@@johnnotrealname8168 Labour haven't been in government over the last 14 years. They can only be properly judged when they are in power. I'm not a labour voter by the way- I'm from Glasgow and don't need to vote for them...but the Tories must be ousted down south asap.

..... was apart of John Majors cabinet

If it gets rid of illegal immigrants he can be 7ft tall.

He's a Hobbit.

😍

​@@AntonyClayton-eq1ul that's an insult to hobbits😂

@@Cube146 Quite right. Take that back. He is a Goblin. A Hob Goblin. 👺😈

My thought exactly... refreshing to see and to hear

The bin is where Rishi's proposed Rwanda Bill belongs. Along with Fishy and the rest of the Tordry clowns.

Clarke makes the Tories in office today look totally mediocre in comparison.

It helps to speak so fluidly if you truly believe in what you are saying. He means what he is saying, he doesn't need to check a script.

To think that Joe Biden is about same age and struggles to complete a sentence without checking his notes. The Tory party became dominated by Euro skeptics and blocked one of their most capable members from becoming leader. Clarke was popular with the public without being populist, still is, and still way more capable. Hopefully everyone will vote for the candidate most likely to beat the Tory candidate next GE. Clarke and those like him would be vindicated. Maybe that is unfair to the candidate, but we must send a big message.

Ken Clarke always was one of the good ones. Let's hope someone's listening

The point is just that. He is a Tory and most of the Government benches are not.

Ken Clarke might be the only reasonable Tory left

@@AdrianNelson1507 I mean historically he wasn't. He was pretty enthusiastically Thatcherite in his day. What is shocking is that the Tory party has moved so far to the unhinged right that he is now comes across like a voice of moderation.

The Tory party had Liz Truss as a leader and Rishi was forced to use Cameron in his government. They aren't quite putting up signs in windows asking for sensible competent Tories to help out the party but it's getting close.

If they take up that idea, tell the GOP here in the States to copy the Tories homework lol Jfc the brain worms conservatives have grown the last decade...

And sit on the beach like King Canute. Actually, he had more sense and his point was that not even a king can contradict reality.

I believe the Tories did that with the way in which poverty in the country was measured.

Good one! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

That is essentially how Rishi's government has cleared the legacy backlog of asylum claimants, or whatever nonsense imaginary term they came up with. Anyone on that list was reclassified onto a new list so the the number of cases didn't have to go down for the government to claim success.

If only there was a number of his fellow Lords awake to hear it.

The boats are a red herring, a small percentage of immigration cherry-picked by spin doctors to pander to xenophobes and racists.

This has been obvious to my 15 year old for over a year!

Absolutely. But these Tories have deliberately scuttled that so they can keep it as a wedge issue.

"Claims" i most countries you apply not claim

Oddly to my elderly mother see can't see any other solution to the problem... She watches GBeebies & Talk Twaddle TV hence has lost sight of abject reality. ​@@Rhianalanthula

Government has been edging closer and closer to turning us into a fascist state with every single law they've passed over recent years. I've been saying it for a long time and got called a "woke radical naysayer" for it. This is what happens when you have political parties (and I'm including them all here) who treat their role and jobs as a sports game. They focus on bills and laws that are intentionally designed to spark emotion in certain (aka the ones who will vote for them) demographics rather than ones based on investigation, debate and facts. Oh, people are getting annoyed by protests - let's look to curb/ban them! That'll get us votes!! Oh, immigration is starting to become a talking point in the country, let's pull a quick "solution" out of our gilded arses and force it through by any means necessary, that'll get us even more votes! Oh, people uneducated on the topic believe that trans people are going out and trying to indoctrinate and groom their kids, let's stir up a culture war and tell lies - that'll get us ALL the votes!! All the whilst half or more of their "debate" time in parliament is spent seeing who can throw the most playground insults at each other. The whole thing is a joke. Just think if all the money they've pissed up the wall on this Rwanda nonsense (think paying Rwanda, the barges, the hotels, etc, etc) had been spent on providing safe routes and opening more immigration/asylum processing centres - this whole thing would be well on it's way to being sorted. Only just now are people finally cottoning on. Look where we are now - government and the rules around being an MP need to be radically overhauled to veer us away from the sorry state we're currently in.

The tories now employing the despicable trick of ignoring the amendments in the Lords and passing the orignal version of legislation again and again before it goes back and forward between the Commons and the Lords. Well the only thing the Lords can do is to sit on whatever legislation comes up been passed if the Commons just ignores amendments from the Lords. Only 43.6% voted for the tories 2019 general election anyway, the country did exactly not vote overwhelmingly in favour of extreme tory legislation getting passed firat time in the commons and unchallanged in the Lords

Its about a party desperate to cling to power that it thinks sending immigrants to an unsafe country will distract voters from the recession it has caused.

That money could be used in our own country...the state we are now in is disgusting. Get our own folks fixed, use the money to bolster our declining Military, Fix NHS, Homeless (which would be reduced once the illegals are deported) , Vets and elderly. Get rid of all foreign aid for good is a first step today....UN-they are all crooks, double payments to Palestine - now we know that we have contributed (along with many other countries to the terrorists). EU not looking that great either. It is a disgrace.

Rwanda, hs2, covid test and trace, ppe fasttrack lanes. They are good at losing others money

Increasing Interest rates for 14 times in a year nearly crashed the properties market.

That's the problem of your British system in general and your overglorification of democracy. You annihilated the power of the monarchy to check Parliament and kneecapped the power of the House of Lords (because muh democracy) to check the power of the House of Commons and you don't have a Supreme Court with the power and standing as the American one. The result of your constant quest to make the HoC the supreme power in the land (because democracy!) is that the Prime Minister is basically a dictator with no checks on him if he has enough votes. Democracy always eventually leads to dictatorship if not checked.

what a lovely scams tory cook up to take our rights away.

I miss these politicians . We now have a bunch of money grabbing thugs .

Also my MP and I cheered when he retired. Never liked that he is an ardent remainer. Not that his replacement is any better. None of the Toxic Tories know how to be a genuine conservative any more.

@@NiceLoki why is Ms Edwards no better? She signed up to Boris’s deal

@@darrylsimpson4744 as well as signing on to the horrific "online harms" bill as well as this dreadful Rwanda Bill and every other appalling bill that this Toxic Tory government has put through Parliament. She is not a genuine Conservative at all, at best she is a right of centre socialist who is supporting everything that is wrong with this government. They have lied to us and I am angry.

@@NiceLoki cat got your tongue Nice? 😂🇬🇧

@@darrylsimpson4744 huh, my comment got deleted, that's annoying as I wrote out quite a long reply too.

Sadly qualities missing in the general population and thus media, both print and social. Or is there hope?

Sadly, he just stopped considering and reasoning a tiny bit too soon and remained a Tory.

It is a walking aid not a wheelchair. Regardless he is still of sound mind to keep that in your thoughts. Hope I am still like him when I age.

It’s gone

Me neither, too much immigration.

We have to take our country back - Parliament all has to go. UN disbanded and after that the UN....they are all corrupt. Keep our foreign aid for our own folk and elevate our suffering...bring back our morals, get the Military back to numbers whereby we can defend ourselves, fix NHS, deport the illegals which will help with homelessness and put more money in the pot, look after our elderly who have paid over the years for their retirement many times over. Bring back our pride!@@shabbos-goy9407

I agree 👍

​@user-gm6gc6ph7p.. you might find it frightening if you were the one being deported to Rwanda.

Erm no he like you is a far left woke extremist....hamas supporting prat the house of lords is all far left woke..

A voice of fact and common sense, really! Ever wondered why boat crossings did not exist before 2010, why the term "illegal migrants" did not exist before 2010? A. The Tories. Tories created this problem by blocking all previous legal migration and asylum routes, routes that have existed for decades, were proven safe, orderly and legal methods to migrate or seek asylum in another country. This is typical Tory tactics, create a problem then claim to be the only party with a solution.

Old school honesty and facts not from Professor Google. Unfortunately the HOC has lost these qualities. Reece Mogg was the last of them.

​@@alanturner9749Are you talking about the Rees-Mogg who said food clothes and shoes would be cheaper after Brexit. And that Brexit wouldn't be a problem between The Republic and Northern Ireland. On top of what is already a disaster, watch what happens after import checks start 1st Feb. Oh, and 8yrs later the DUP have only just agreed to sit in Stormont. Mogg is just a posh speaking grifter.

@@alanturner9749 No Mogg set the rot with his filthy lies! misinformation and self serving entitlement. He is a disgrace and a traitor to the uk.

You'd take Judas Iskariot over Boris.

@@kimlog7476I’d take a dropped flan over Boris Johnson

Bring back John Major. I never supported his government back in the day but I’d see him in instead of this shower of absolute garbage.

​@@kimlog7476 Tommy Cooper was a far better comedian than Johnson, stuck to his trade and never had to be told to leave the stage.

This won’t give power to the police. It’s Sunak who will grab that.

​@@joancooley1387Police have enough already.

I remember the Daily Telegraph when it was a decent paper. Since it helped bring in the Tories after its attack on (duck house) Parliamentary expenses it is just the 'Blue Touchpaper'.

@@janetmalcolm6191 But Not in line with what defines ‘policing’. In the same vein as our country has No leader.

Tories had morals. It was Bolivia that had Morales (Evo Morales)

Precisely…..Clarke is a socialist at heart.

Bet you weren't saying that back in the 90s, when he was in Major's government.

​@@JupiterThunderTo be fair, he was less able to speak freely then. He had to respect collective cabinet responsibility, so had to tow the party line more closely. As it stands though, he's an asset to the Lords.

It's OK it's not their money wasted

Ken Clarke was not elected to the House of Lords, the entire House of Lords is an undemocratic joke

@@user-fg3lt6mo7jwhat about their payments for attending (and then going to sleep) and their SUBSIDISED food and booze, travelling expenses etc., this is a retirement heaven for these old fogeys.

And all in aid of the effective deportation from this country of the magnificent annual figure of some 0.026846% of immigrants into this country as a "deterrent".

They aren't. But they realise that an angry and very vocal proportion of the electorate are insanely out of touch with reality. Many of whom are in marginal seats. They know this is bonkers, illegal and likely to fail. As Mr. Clarke eluded to, it is purely an exercise in perception management. It is not a serious government policy.

This government is lobbied by the richest people on the planet the banking families who are Zionist and will do as they say for money big money and that’s all they care about not humans money that we don’t see it’s numbers in a computer, however they want those number for self gain not for the betterment of Britain, the new world order that’s on the way already will be a fascist Zionist neo Nazi run World especially Europe US Argentina Brazil all the neo colonisers ganging up to rule the world 9:25 as a fascist world,eventually dictatorship and then totalitarianism, it’s Orwellian only much worse than.

Money talks.

It is fully in touch with reality that is why they are so good in manipulation. The fact that many even talk about immigration as if it some sort of huge problem is proof for just that. The problems for the people, the working class they allude to too often are the tranfer of their money to private corporations at the cost of their wages and public support among other things. But they first create these problems and then point at other, needy people as the cause of it all. So no, they know exactly what they do and they know how to get away with it.

Reality is an inconvenience to the Tories

France is a safe country so why risk crossing the Channel. Freeloaders who aren't wanted or welcome.

Defining Rwanda as safe I believe.

It is Rwanda problem , why do you care about it

@visnjalivancic3953 well we've taken it open ourselves to try and make a law about another country. So it's our problem

That I’m afraid is the terrifying mess we are. Truth is radical ( real truth not paranoid conspiracy “truth”)

He lied several times, though. He slanders people that take the government's only available route to asylum in the UK as "illegals", and pretends that the Rwanda policy would not be a violation of human rights if a safer country could be found. He may have drawn a legalistic line here, but he's fully on board with the government's immoral and illegal campaign itself.

Well that's because conservatism as an ideology has moved more to the right. Being conservative in a trump world was significantly different to the time of thatcher/major/cameron it explains why there's so much infighting. Now I'm not a conservative voter but people like Clarke or rory stewart could potentially recieve my vote as they genuinely think of people rather then party. Whilst they will always have party loyalty they do t blindly follow it.

House of Commons needs the decision from the House of Lords.

​@@EgD661As long as you lot support the House of Lords.

You know, you might be onto something! How much do you reckon we could save by doing that? Can we employ some of them to work in NHS triage rooms?

🎯

Give it time, give it time. There are historical precedents with the fascists and fascists now governing the UK

Perhaps more akin to passing a law saying that a prison cell isn't a confined space, so there cannot be overcrowding in prison cells.

☑

All ushered in by Brexit.

I.dont agreecwithbken Clarke

Whips arent the issue, it's that we don't have sufficient checks, balances and laws to stop the greedy corrupt liars that now have power. Plus fptp and tory gerrymandering

If you get rid of the whips, they'll just buy their own and charge them to their expenses.

Get rid of lobbying

Small boats nearly crashed the big boat ( Tory party)...😂

That's why he's no longer an MP!

Clarke isn't an MP, he's in the house of lords and thereby is part of our problem.

Even labour have gone down the toilet. Especially with the Starmer dictatorship.

​@@AdrianNelson1507I'm going to play Mr. Petty here and say: he's still technically an MP

It has. look up the civil wars.

We don't live in a democracy. If you think we do then the gaslighting has been successful.

@@HTOP1982 We didn't really have democracy at the time of the Civil War: only a select few had the vote.

​@@jerry2357 The same argument can be made nowadays. There is a minimum age to be able to vote. If you are incarcerated you can not vote either. Those are just 2 examples.

​@@HTOP1982 Not overloaded with grey matter or common sense are you?

“String vest vote”, just say you hate the working class 🙄. And no I’m not anything close to a Tory

Morals?…. What about the itv scandal and cover up… just another member of the swamp I’m afraid.

@@robcr8 ... Very true, how quickly people forget, and how easily people are hoodwinked.

The nu Tory’s are communist

It's a shame he isn't 30 years younger. His brand of common sense is sadly missed in the House of Commons these days.

I agree totally and it's why I wouldn't want to see elected Lords, although I do want to see the Lords reformed. The Lords should be slimmed down and have no party appointments and be made up of independant people who have excelled in various disciplines. They should serve a long term to ensure continuity and avoid short termism and cheap populism.

I don't think Clarke ever cared much about what even his own party members thought of him. He was the main Tory voice in speaking out about the dangers of an uncontrolled Brexit and got turfed out of the parliamentary party for it. I don't always agree with him but he's a man of principle and that's a rare thing for a Tory these days.

You like him because he is a socialist and created many problems we are now having to deal with.

I agree apart from you supporting Labour !

@@michaelellis7326 I actually think that Ken Clarke like conservatives are much closer to Starmer’s Labour than Sunak’s Conservatives. Hopefully enough of them come over to vote Labour to get rid of this horrible and incompetent right wing government.

Nope. Just you listened to different voices in the eighties. If you were there.

Thatcher will be turning in her grave the way the current tory bunch are running the country

Wasn't he one of Thatcher's "wets"?

Decency and principles aren’t exclusive to left.

You may disagree with (as I do) the bulk of his personal politics? Just because he's a Tory, he's raising a very important points regarding the current bunch of 🤬 in No.10 & their idiotic obsession with the cluster 🤬 that is their "Rwanda" policy.

Enough...all foreign aid should be stopped not just put on hold.

My father in law died in September and he was staunch Labour, he was a unison rep but he always said that although he didn't agree with the Thatcher era policies he thought that they genuinely believed that they were acting in the countries best interest.